RTC creates second major office locally to handle hefty thrift load.

The Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency that manages the assets of failed savings and loans, is adding a second major office in Southern California.

RTC officials said they are making the move in anticipation that even more of California's S&Ls are headed for trouble. The RTC's existing office in Costa Mesa, with $11 billion of loans and other S&L assets under conservatorship, is already the largest office of its kind in the nation.

The new office is being set up as an adjunct to the RTC's Western region operations in Denver, for the purpose of eliminating red tape and speeding up the sales of the RTC's California assets.

Sherwin Koopman, the RTC's regional director in Denver, said the move was being done as a necessary precaution: "If the economy really burps and we have an onslaught of S&L failures, we're going to be in real trouble."

Joseph Honescko, managing director of the Costa Mesa office, said the existing workload already justified the new office: "We brought these resources to bear because the volume is very significant."

Forty-five of the 93 S&Ls currently in receivership in the Western Region are in California; the Costa Mesa office accounts for about two-thirds of the assets under conservatorship in the Denver region. The new office will raise the status of the Southern California operation to a "subregional" office.

The practical purpose is to eliminate the need for RTC officials in Costa Mesa to go to Denver each time they want to conduct a major deal. Currently, for example, the paperwork for any deal of $50 million or more must go to Denver for approval before it is sent to Washington, D.C., for final approval.

Typically, officials from Costa Mesa must shuttle to Denver to make presentations. Under the new arrangement, deals will go directly from Southern California to Washington.

"It's basically going to be an on-site Denver operation," said Kevin Shields, an RTC spokesman in Denver.

A location for the subregional office has not yet been chosen, but an RTC official said it would be either Newport Beach or San Diego. The RTC has retained an Orange County broker to find 5,000 square feet of space.

A.J. Felton has been named director of California operations to oversee the new office. He is a former General Motors Acceptance Corp. executive and has been the deputy regional director of assets for the RTC's Eastern region.

Another 20 people from the existing Costa Mesa operation are being transferred to the new office to staff it. The Costa Mesa office employs 346.

Honescko of the Costa Mesa office will report to Felton. The RTC's Costa Mesa office has been on a hiring binge, advertising jobs ranging from clerical to executive positions. Within six months the Costa Mesa payroll is expected to balloon to 600.

The RTC will move to larger quarters in Newport Beach sometime this fall to accommodate the office's growth.

-- Greenberg is a staff reporter for the Orange County Business Journal